I have questions.  Lots of them.  Some of them really hard questions like “why do precious, godly people in my life have to suffer intense pain, both physical and emotional.”  Other questions maybe aren’t so hard, but still, I do wonder why chickens have wings but don’t fly.  I’m sure someone somewhere has the answers to some of my questions, but others remain unanswered.

Perhaps you’ve guessed.  For week 14 of the 52 Week Challenge, I read the book of Job.  The book is 42 chapters long.  For most of the first 37 chapters, Job and his friends are grappling with why Job is suffering.  Relying on human logic, they word-wrestle back and forth, with each one convinced his perspective is correct and even righteous.

And God waits.  For a time.

And then He speaks.

However, when He speaks, He doesn’t answer the questions.  Rather He asks more questions.  Questions like:

“Where were you

when I laid

the foundations

of the earth?”

Job 38:4

"Have you

commanded the

morning since

your days began,

and caused the dawn

to know its place,

that it might take

hold of the

skirts of the earth?”

Job 38:12-13

“Have you

entered the

storehouses

of the snow

or have you seen

the storehouses

of the hail?”

Job 38:22

“Has the rain a father,

or who has begotten

the drops of dew?" 

 Job 38:29

“Is it by

your command

that the eagle

mounts up and

makes his nest

on high?”

Job 39:27

And one of His toughest questions: 

“Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?”

Job 40:8

And the room falls silent.  My room; where I sit.

When I think of the day that we stand in the presence of the Almighty Creator, I don’t picture myself standing with my hands on my hip asking “Why?” about anything.  Yet, now, in this day and time, I find myself pleading “why” in sobs, asking “why” while stamping my feet, or questioning “why” with a weary sigh.

But now we look ahead by faith.  Part of faith means not knowing.  “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)  Blended with the assurance and conviction are the things hoped for and not seen.  We’re not there yet.  We’re not sitting at rest at the Father’s feet with all of eternity to talk.

So how do we get through the “whys” now?  Perhaps this is simplistic, but, similar to God’s message to Job, He also affirms, “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.  ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’”  Isaiah 55:8-9

And it is in that wisdom, that the loving Father chose to send His Son, a gift with a promise.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

So, we hold on, we continue to believe, to have faith.  God holds this world.  He is in control.  And while all things do not make sense to me in this present time and place, I am assured that God loves us, that He is in control, and His faithful children will be brought to rest with Him in the end.

So for now, for this moment, it is enough.

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